~ a place for me to share

Abnormal shopping

Travelling abroad a Norwegian is always likely to bring home his or her alcohol quota. The rules in Norway are strict and one is only allowed to bring a few bottles of alcohol when returning home, the amount depending on the alcohol content of the drink. I am not one of those people.

When travelling this time I was actually looking for certain alcoholic beverages: Irish cider and one certain type of champagne (not really champagne, but what we still call champagne, ignoring how we annoy the French from the Champagne area). The first because its price in Norway suggests it to be illegal, the second because of my innate need to fill the quota. I could not find either neither in Sweden nor in Denmark. Consequently, no alcohol followed me home.

With a two-year-old never leaving my side I managed to do very little proper shopping, I’m talking clothes, accessories, shoes, etc. I was limited to shops where they had trolleys for Son. He is used to that from back home and enjoys shopping with me, as long as he can talk to everyone passing us.

As I’ve mentioned before I pay quite a lot of attention to what we eat. And, living in Norway, that is not always a walk in the park. But, in Denmark, biological groceries are not considered swear words, nor forced out of the market by large brands who buy off shops to squeeze out the smaller brands. The range of products was thus out of this world, compared to that at home. Prices were better too. So I ended up buying a lot things I assume not every man in the street would bring home after travelling the neighbour countries.

I know, but I’ve never claimed to be normal…

Vanilla, just pure vanilla, no vanillin, no additives, just ground vanilla.

Tzatziki spice mix, because I too am allowed to be lazy. Little salt, no additives, not certified biological, but makes my life easier and my salads better.

And one of the best chocolates ever. It is becoming increasingly rare in Norway and has now become quite difficult to find.